Conrad IV redirects here. There was also a Conrad IV of Swabia and a Conrad IV, Count of Fürstenberg-Wolfach

Fürstenberg-Wolfach

Fürstenberg-Wolfach was a mediæval County, which was located in western Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in the region surrounding Wolfach. It was created as a partition of Fürstenberg in 1408...

.

Conrad IV (25 April 1228 – 21 May 1254) was king of Jerusalem

Kingdom of Jerusalem

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....

 (as Conrad II; 1228–1254), of Germany (1237–1254), and of Sicily

Kingdom of Sicily

The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...

 (as Conrad I; 1250–1254).

Biography

He was a son of the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...

 and the queen regnant

Queen regnant

A queen regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire....

 of Jerusalem, Isabella II (Yolanda). Born in Andria

Andria, Italy

Andria is a city and comune in Apulia . It is an agricultural and service center, producing wine, olives and almonds...

, Conrad was the second but only surviving child of Frederick and Isabella II, who died while giving birth to him. Conrad lived in Italy until 1235, when he first visited Germany. During this period his kingdom of Jerusalem, ruled by his father as regent through proxies, was racked by the War of the Lombards

War of the Lombards

The War of the Lombards was a civil war in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Cyprus between the "Lombards" , the representatives of the Emperor Frederick II, largely from Lombardy, and the native aristocracy, led first by the Ibelins and then by the Montforts...

 until Conrad declared his majority and his father's regency lost its validity.

When Frederick II deposed his eldest son, Conrad's rebellious older brother Henry

Henry (VII) of Germany

Henry was King of Sicily from 1212, Duke of Swabia from 1216, and King of Germany from 1220. He was the son and co-king of Emperor Frederick II and elder brother of Conrad IV of Germany...

, in 1237 had Conrad elected King of the Romans

King of the Romans

King of the Romans was the title used by the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire following his election to the office by the princes of the Kingdom of Germany...

 in diet in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. This title presumed a future as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

. Archbishop Siegfried III of Mainz acted as German regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 until 1242, when Frederick chose Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia

Thuringia

The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....

, and Wenceslaus I of Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

, to assume this function. Conrad intervened directly in German politics from around 1240.

However, when Pope Innocent IV

Pope Innocent IV

Pope Innocent IV , born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was pope from June 25, 1243 until his death in 1254.-Early life:...

 imposed a papal ban on Frederick in 1245 and declared Conrad deposed, Henry Raspe supported the pope and was in turn elected as anti-king of Germany on 22 May 1246. Henry Raspe defeated Conrad in the battle of Nidda

Nidda, city

Nidda is a town in the district Wetterau, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated on the Nidda river, approximately 40 km northeast of Frankfurt am Main.- Division of the town :...

 in August 1246, but died several months later. He was succeeded as anti-king by William of Holland.

Also in 1246, Conrad married Elisabeth of Bavaria

Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Germany

Elisabeth of Bavaria was the queen consort of Conrad IV of Germany.-Family:She was the eldest daughter of Otto II, Duke of Bavaria and Agnes of the Palatinate...

, a daughter of Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria

Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria

Otto II of Bavaria was the Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine . He was a son of Louis I and Ludmilla of Bohemia and a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty.- Biography :...

. They had a son, Conradin

Conradin

Conrad , called the Younger or the Boy, but usually known by the diminutive Conradin , was the Duke of Swabia , King of Jerusalem , and King of Sicily .-Early childhood:Conradin was born in Wolfstein, Bavaria, to Conrad...

, in 1252. In 1250 Conrad settled momentarily the situation in Germany by defeating William of Holland

William, King of the Romans

William II of Holland was a Count of Holland and Zeeland . He was elected as German anti-king in 1247 and remained king until his death....

 and his Rhenish allies.

When Frederick II died in the same year, he passed Sicily and Germany, as well as the title of Jerusalem, to Conrad, but the struggle with the pope continued. Having been defeated by William in 1251, Conrad decided to invade Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 in the hope to regain the rich reign of his father, and where his brother Manfred

Manfred of Sicily

Manfred was the King of Sicily from 1258 to 1266. He was a natural son of the emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen but his mother, Bianca Lancia , is reported by Matthew of Paris to have been married to the emperor while on her deathbed.-Background:Manfred was born in Venosa...

 acted as vicar.
In January 1252 he invaded Apulia

Apulia

Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...

 with a Venetian

Republic of Venice

The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

 fleet and successfully managed to restrain Manfred and to exercise control of the country. In October 1253 his troops conquered Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

.

Conrad was however not able to subdue the pope's supporters, and the pope in turn offered Sicily to Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England

Henry III of England

Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...

 (1253). Conrad was excommunicated

Excommunication

Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...

 in 1254 and died of malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

 in the same year at Lavello

Lavello

Lavello is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the region of Basilicata of southern Italy; it is located in the Vulture traditional region, in the middle Ofanto valley.-History:...

 in Basilicata

Basilicata

Basilicata , also known as Lucania, is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south, having one short southwestern coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania in the northwest and Calabria in the southwest, and a...

. Manfred first, and later his infant son Conradin

Conradin

Conrad , called the Younger or the Boy, but usually known by the diminutive Conradin , was the Duke of Swabia , King of Jerusalem , and King of Sicily .-Early childhood:Conradin was born in Wolfstein, Bavaria, to Conrad...

, continued the struggle with the Papacy, although unsuccessfully.

Conrad's widow Elisabeth married secondly Meinhard II, Count of Tirol, who in 1286 became Duke of Carinthia.

With Conrad's death in 1254 began the "Interregnum", during which no ruler managed to gain undisputed control of Germany. It would only be ended with the election of Rudolph of Habsburg as King of the Romans in 1273.

Ancestors

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